LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Able-bodied need to look for work

Your objections to changes in food-stamp requirements are irresponsible (“Punish the poor, again,” editorial, Sept. 15). The deserving poor still will remain eligible for assistance, but it is time that the able-bodied, low-income citizens get off their couches and make an effort to obtain job training or look for work.

People who sit on their porches waiting for government assistance to arrive will never improve their place in society.

The full-page advertisement in the Sept. 15 edition of The Blade that attacked Heartland of Waterville was disgraceful. The advertisement, paid for by an out-of-state law firm that specializes in suing skilled nursing centers, was designed to besmirch the reputation of a local center whose name seemingly was drawn out of a hat.

The law firm’s use of scare words such as “bedsores” and “death” — which have no factual connection to the facility — drags down the local people who work there and attacks a business that has been part of this community for years.

The claim in the advertisement that the “government has cited” the facility is meaningless. Virtually all of Ohio’s skilled centers receive some kind of citation on their annual inspection, usually not serious.

It is a shame that unscrupulous actors can blast advertisements from afar, harm a local business, and scare local seniors, all in an effort to pad their own pockets.

PETER VAN RUNKLE

Executive Director Ohio Health Care Association Lewis Center, Ohio

Care at Heartland is top-notch

I know firsthand the quality of care administered at Heartland of Waterville. My sister has been a resident there for the past two years. I stop in every day to visit with her.

I would not leave her in a place where I thought she was not getting quality care. She had been in a different facility and I moved her because of that concern.

The comfort, compassion, patience, and loving care given by the Heartland staff is top-notch. The skilled-nursing staff is very good. The rehabilitation staff is remarkable.

When a problem arises, management gets the matter resolved.

No facility is 100 percent problem-free. But I feel that Heartland is striving to be one of the best.

RUTH ANN PERRY

Whitehouse

Gilligan tricked voters on tax

Although I voted for John Gilligan for governor in the 1970s, he tricked Ohio voters when the bill to pass the Ohio income tax was worded in a way that a “no” vote meant a yes for the tax (“Gilligan: Man of faith and ‘study in contrasts’,” Sept. 6). He was defeated in the next election, which was no surprise to me.

THOMAS KOVACS

Perrysburg Township

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